In the camper was a list of instructions for using the shower, stove and other important information. Later they would learn the volunteers who came to care for Beverly Wilder often stayed there between shifts rather then drive home. Laura had no trouble in the small shower but Robbie was a bit tall for it and couldn't quite stand up completely.
The kitchen was stocked with bagels for breakfast and there were several varieties of coffee and tea pods for the single cup brewing machine. Not being very hungry they shared a bagel with some homemade blackberry jam. They cleaned up the small kitchen, straightened the quilt on the bed they slept on top of, and packed up their few belongings.
Robbie looked out the small bedroom window."Good, Wilder's cruiser is still there. We'll want to say goodbye. I'd like to say more to him, I just don't know how."
Laura came up beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "You'll figure it out; you're good at that Robbie."
They stepped outside to be greeted by an unusually warm morning. Another car had arrived since they had gone in last night and a young woman was leaning against it smoking a cigarette. At the sound of the camper door opening, she quickly put it out. "Good morning, you must be the Brits. I'm here to clean, first the camper, then the house for Mr. Wilder."
Laura told her their names and said they tried not to leave any mess.
"Mr. Wilder likes it to be nice for the volunteers who stay there." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Dahlia. Emma, his daughter, was my friend." She could tell from their expressions that they knew. "My mom helps with Mrs. Wilder but I, well I can't handle all that medical stuff so I clean instead." She looked over her shoulder. "Don't tell Mr. Wilder about the cigarette. He still thinks of me as Emma's ten year old pal."
Laura assured her, "No worries there. We were wondering what to say to him before we left."
Dahlia knew what she meant. "He was such a nice guy, you couldn't have asked for a better dad. Since the accident he well, he isn't the same. Today is not going to be a good day. The nurse had to cancel and there aren't any volunteers scheduled until this afternoon. I suppose I..."
Laura looked at Robbie. "Maybe we could stay an extra day and help out."
"Yes, we could." He saw relief on Dahlia's face. "Laura's a doctor and I can see if there is anything for me to do."
"Oh, that would be great. He needs his job to afford care and for the health insurance. He's always running out of leave even with some of the others donating their days to him."
Laura started toward the house. "I'll go and offer my services."
Dahlia caught up with her. "He might take it better if I go with you."
Robbie returned to the camper with their duffel bag. When he came back out he tried again to call Lyn and couldn't get a signal. The last time he got through to her was when they stopped for lunch in Mexico, Maine.
Dahlia came out of the house with a bucket full of cleaning supplies and headed for the camper. She saw Robbie trying the phone. "You'll have to go climb up that hill over there to get service." She pointed to a green mound that rose above the surrounding rock. "It's not that long of a walk and it works." She grinned. "It's the price you pay for living up here in the boonies." Then her smile faded. " I always wanted to move to one of the big cities until...well you know." Dahlia kicked at some small stones with her shoe then went in the camper.
Robbie started off on his walk. As promised, on top of the hill he was able to get Lyn and after that James and Lizzie. He told them as much as he could about their trip. Lyn was especially pleased that her father presented Laura with a proper marriage proposal.
Robbie hiked back to the camper in time to see a horse and buggy stop near the house. A young woman wearing a long dark dress got out and hitched the horse to a post seemingly there for that specific purpose. She unloaded a box out of the buggy. Robbie went and offered to help. "Thank-you", she said in a gentle voice that had the traces of a German accent. She gave Robbie the first box and got out another one for herself. Silently they each carried their load to the house. There, just inside the door and to the right stood a large upright freezer where they emptied and stored the containers from the boxes. Then Robbie followed her back to the buggy where she took out a smaller box destined for the freezer compartment in the camper. The girl left the box in Robbie's hands and got back in the buggy and drove away.
Inside the camper, Dahlia showed Robbie how to efficiently store the containers in the freezer. "That's Sadie, from the Amish community. They keep Mr. Wilder supplied with home cooked food. His favorite is chicken pot pie." She inspected each container as she put it away. "They make some smaller ones to fit in the camper. And there's always shoo fly pie." She saw Robbie's puzzlement. "If you like sweet things and molasses you'll love it."
Robbie wasn't sure Laura would approve of him eating more sweets after all the whoopie pies he consumed in Maine. "I'll have to try it." Recalling how he struggled to help the young woman who really must have been just a teenager, "I can't believe that wee lass could lift such heavy boxes."
"That's nothing. She may be skinnier than a rail fence but she can lift 100 pound bales of hay and push around 1,200 pound animals. Those Amish girls are strong."
"I thought the Amish lived in Pennsylvania."
"They started out there a couple hundred years ago. They've grown so much they had to spread out. A group came here some years back to get away from cities and tourists. They can keep to themselves here."
"I wasn't sure if I should talk to her, if they talk to strangers. Sadie seemed rather shy."
"Yes, she is but they are not all like that. They have different personalities just like us." She laughed. "If it was her sister Katie who came here today, she'd talk your ear off. One thing they all believe in is helping out those in need. Even though they are leery of people who work for the government and generally avoid cops, when they found out about Mr. Wilder they wanted to help. They really believe in all that 'love thy neighbor' stuff. We all do around here."
Dahlia left to go and get ready for her job at a furniture factory. Robbie heated one of the small chicken pot pies in the camper's microwave and found it to his liking. Then he went outside to see if there was something he could do to help.
On his return walk from telephone hill he had noticed a pile of split wood behind the house. Some of it had been stacked into neat rows. Robbie, keeping to the symmetry of the woodpile, took care of the rest. He stepped back to admire his work then decided that one hour of labor earned him a piece of shoo fly pie. Not surprisingly Robbie enjoyed the sweet gooey treat, wishing there was some ice cream to go with it. Dahlia said that Laura's replacement would come at 4 o'clock so he still had an hour to fill.
He turned on the television set in the camper. The large satellite dish on the roof was successful in providing several channels. Robbie checked to see what American television had to offer in the afternoon and rejected shows called 'Wives With Knives' and 'I Married a Serial Killer', settling for a Boston Red Sox baseball game with the New York Yankees. Not long into the game, he fell asleep.
Robbie woke to see Laura wrapping up the rest of the pie and storing it in the refrigerator. "How was it?"
She knew what he meant. "It was all right, really not much to do." Laura inspected the remains of the shoo fly pie. "I may have to try this." She sat down next to Robbie on the small sofa in the camper. "I know why Jake said not call him 'Tommy'. It's what his wife called him; I saw it on cards she gave him ages back." She saw Robbie's expression. "I wasn't snooping Robbie. I found them on top of the medical records." She sighed. "There was no hope of recovery ten years ago, now..."
They snuggled together and 'watched' the rest of the baseball game. A light knock on the door woke them up.
Thomas Wilder had picked up pizza and beer on his way home from work and asked them to join him. They sat outside at a table on his back porch. The two cops talked shop a bit then a silence hung in the air. Laura picked up the paper plates and pizza boxes and said she was going to take a walk out to the hill and make some phone calls. Both men stood up until she was out of sight. Then they sat and Robbie talked to Thomas, about Val, and Laura.
Laura called her brother to let him know she hadn't made it to Canada yet, then the neighbor who was taking care of their animals. In his hurry to leave Oxford Robbie left it to James to bring the cat and dog down the road to their neighbor's house. When Laura got through to them she was told that Osborn was having a good time visiting his friend Donald and Monty was pretending to be miffed in order to get extra treats.
A few hours later Laura was in the camper getting organized for their departure the next day. Robbie came in and slumped down onto the sofa. Laura sat down next to him. "What did you say to him?"
"I told him about Val, how I handled or rather didn't handle grief, until I was able to let go, and move on." He reached over and touched her check. "Well, I may have gone into too much detail but he has that investigator's skill of getting you to open up. I fell for it."
Laura covered his hand with hers. "I'm sure it was helpful."
"Yeah, he really seemed to want to hear my story."
"You have a better idea than most what he is going through." She rubbed his thigh. "Is this reminder of Val too painful for you?"
Robbie put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "No, it's not so much a reminder of Val as what can happen when the right person stands by you after a tragedy." Robbie sat up and pulled her into a hug. After a minute he whispered in her ear. "Are you going to show me the T-shirt you bought yesterday? I didn't get to see it last night."
"I was hoping you would ask." She went behind the curtain into the camper's bedroom and returned wearing her souvenir T-shirt from New Hampshire. It said 'Will Trade Husband For The Old Man Of The Mountain'.
That same day, back in Oxford DI Hathaway renewed his acquaintance with members of the RCMP while DI Maddox continued her research, taking advantage of the moments her boss went outside for a cigarette.
In the morning Robbie and Laura were all packed and ready to go when Thomas Wilder came to say good bye. "Thank-you, both of you." The tears in his eyes and the softening of his face added to his words. He walked them to their car, opening the passenger side door for Laura. Before closing it, he leaned in to tell both of them, "I had a talk with Bev last night. I told her if it's what she wants, I would let her go." He shut the door and walked past the two vehicles belonging to that day's care givers and on to his police cruiser to start his work day.
